Knights
by pyr0technic
Summary: "This is it, boys, this is war - what are we waiting for?" — Four kids watch their lives escape them. Their path is paved for the heroes, but they wonder if this is really what they wanted. [pacificrim!AU.]


**Knights**

_i._ the summer that never came

_"I'm waking up at the start of the end of the world, but it's feeling just like every other morning before."_

* * *

><p><strong>Apollo Justice.<strong>

I remember August 12th in 2013.

It's a dim memory, though, something that I pushed to the back of my mind after the incident was over, because it was just _one of those things_ that no one ever talked about.

So I, along with everyone else, tried to forget it ever happened.

Emphasis on _tried_. No matter how much I wanted to ignore it, it was always _there_. Creeping into my mind at the most random times - during thefrenzy of an exam, the creeping hours of the morning when I can't fall asleep, or when I'm eating breakfast and can't find anything to watch on TV.

Now that I look back on it, how _could_ something like that be forgotten? The very first attack had been in our own country, our own _state._

I remember going to school that day. Everything seemed so…normal. Clay waking me up in the morning like the damn early bird he is, the sweltering sun at eight a.m. right before we enter the school, barely missing roll call because we'd been fooling around instead of reporting to class right away.

I remember the moment everything changed. I can't even remember why I got up – maybe it was because the other kids dared me to ask her something stupid – but whatever it was, I forgot it the instant when I saw Mrs. Hill sitting there at her desk, her head in her hands as she shielded her face from mine.

I asked her what was wrong. When she looked up, the sun was reflecting off of her wire-rimmed glasses, so I could never be sure whether she was feeling alright or not. She told me everything was _fine._

I'd never felt my bracelet clench tighter.

"Apollo?"

I retreated to my desk, and into the shell that was my mind. I frowned at the window like it had wronged me while Clay waved a hand in my face.

"What's wrong?"

Of course Clay knew something was wrong. But for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to say anything – for more reasons than one. I wasn't exactly sure why this dread was there, and if it even meant anything was wrong. The only proof I had was my bracelet, and I hadn't told anyone about that yet.

Even if there was something wrong – there some part of my nine year old self that didn't want to acknowledge it yet. Maybe if I pretended everything was _fine,_ like Clay told me all the time, it really would be.

I didn't respond for a long time, absentmindedly rubbing the smooth metal surrounding my wrist, which actually didn't comfort me in the least.

I could see Clay out of the corner of my eye, raising an eyebrow at me. "Does this have to do with your bracelet?" He narrowed his gaze and inspected me more closely, eyeing my tell.

In an instant, my hand flew off the bracelet. Maybe he _would_ understand.

But I didn't get the chance to say anything, because our principal walked in the next moment, his hands clenched at his sides and a grimexpression on his face as he steeled himself for what he was about to say. When he began to talk, a dead silence fell over the classroom.

As if to prove it wasn't all a lie, some horrific fairytale he had painted in all of our minds, he switched on the television and it was _there,_ in plain sight for all of us. The images were unbelievable, like something you'd see in a typical apocalypse movie.

It wasn't so surreal when the newswoman begin shouting in a panic as the disaster worsened, and the cries of the patrons of the city grew louder.

That was the first attack of the Kaiju – and it was unfolding in our neighboring city of San Francisco.

The worst part was that school went on. Mrs. Hill left, though, for some reason; we had a substitute for the rest of the day. It was obvious no one could concentrate. Figuring out what four times thirty two was had never been harder.

When school was finally dismissed, most of us hesitated to talk about it. There were some more arrogant characters, whispering because they knew it was forbidden and yet it was the perfect, crazy disaster.

Clay and I didn't say anything. There was a strangely tense silence between us that I didn't understand. Neither of us had anything to do with the attack. Our lives were mysterious ones, dredged up from the remains of an orphanage. So why did something that was happening so far away seemed like it was happening to _us?_

I didn't dare voice the thought. The school bus had that murmuring buzz when we boarded it – the kind where you know something has _happened,_and everyone in the world knows about it. And even though the two of us were quiet, I would bet anything we were dying to say something. Sayanything.

I spared a glance next to me to find that Clay's eyes were closed as his head lolled over to rest on my shoulder. I didn't miss the twitch of hiseyelids, though, so I knew he was wide awake.

And that was that.

In the next few days, the general panic subsided as the kaiju was killed. Thousands of lives were lost, but it really had nothing to do with us. We were just two meaningless orphans, kids with dreams, dreams of space and law and someday having a name that people remembered.

That was when the memory was boxed and wrapped and pushed all the way to the back of my mind, the way I shoved laundry under my bed when I really didn't feel like doing it. Instead, we threw ourselves towards our dreams with starry eyes and only each other to lean on.

We didn't think about the kajiu after that.

&.

**Clay Terran.**

I wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up.

It was an obsession, really; I think I annoyed the hell out of everyone at some point with it. I pushed all of my most fascinating space documentaries onto Apollo, and while I stayed up until two in the morning watching, he fell asleep after the first ten minutes.

He would wake up to a face of shaved cream and Sharpie marks (don't tell me he didn't deserve it).

But anyway, my favorite place at that age, – I think I was eleven – was the GYAXA space center. I went there all the time just to immerse myself in their museum – which was totally amazing, by the way – for hours until closing time. There were countless historical artifacts and nonfiction accounts of the feats of mankind in space, and it never ceased to interest me.

It was for my ever-present obsession that Apollo tagged along sometimes, usually only after I'd forced him to.

When Apollo agreed to come along that day, I probably should've known he would disapprove of what he called my "reckless" and "irresponsible" personality in action.

"Apollo!"

I beckoned for his presence, and he immediately sauntered over like a noble steed (heh, I like that idea; I bet Apollo wouldn't). There, he found the apparently intriguing and ridiculous scene where I was playing tag with one of the robots. Alarmed, he stepped back. "Clay, I don't think we should be playing with those things!"

Not wanting to stop my chase, I passed by him with what I hoped was a reassuring (but wasn't, judging by the look on his face) look. "Relax! Her name's Ponco, and she's super friendly!"

Ponco stopped at the mention of her name and displayed a smiling face on her monitor. "Yes, that is my name! What is yours?"

"Clay Terran!" I grinned excitedly as the robot's scanner cascaded over my face. Technology was pretty frickin' awesome.

Apollo grimaced before sighing in defeat. After all, this wouldn't be the first time that I dragged him into something under protest, would it?

"If that thing stores your face away for future reference…" Apollo said apprehensively, "they could definitely track you down."

Totally ignoring him, I swung an arm around him and flashed a peace sign at the little robot. "Ponco, meet my best friend, Apollo Justice!"

Wearily, Apollo plucked the arm off of his shoulder and turned to glare at me. "Was that really necessary?"

"Absolutely." I nodded. "If I get in trouble, then you should too. It's only fair." I winked, and he groaned.

I turned away from Apollo in favor of playing around some more with Ponco. Apollo resisted at first, but eventually gave in after Ponco revealed that she had _games_ we could play on her monitor. I never knew how much Apollo was into gore until that day.

It still frightens me, actually.

When Apollo excused himself to go to the restroom, I was left alone for a couple of minutes. Looking back, it was probably a bad idea, but I understand that he would give his bladder priority in the situation.

So that was the first time I saw Athena Cykes. I only caught a flash of her bright auburn hair before she hid herself.

"Hello?" I called out, wondering if the girl was lost.

After a few moments of tense silence, she slowly edged back from the entranceway and then cautiously made her way to me. Up close, I could tell she wasn't actually quite average as I first perceived. The things that jumped out at me the most were her striking blue eyes and the strange, bunny-eared headphones she wore.

"Um…hey," I greeted uncertainly, waving my hand. When she didn't say anything, I continued, "You don't have to be afraid or anything. I'm pretty nice, actually! What's your name?"

For good measure, I threw in a nice, bright grin. Something that Apollo should do more often. My display of friendliness seemed to slightly thaw her initial hesitance, and she softly replied, "My name is Athena. I've been looking around for my friend Junie. Have you seen her?"

Needless to say, I had no idea what she was talking about. "That would be a no," I said. When her face fell, I suddenly felt guilty. As soon as my face contorted into a frown, she suddenly stepped back.

"Agh!" She pressed on her headphones, pushing them down onto her ears. The way her eyes were clenched shut, I could tell she was in pain. I reached out to her, but stopped at the loud sound of Apollo's voice calling my name. It only seemed to pain Athena more, her knuckles turningwhite as her grip tightened.

"What is it, Apollo?" I turned around, still confused and unsure of what to do about the situation at hand. Apollo stood there, holding the hand of some small girl wearing long, black braids and a pastel-colored dress.

"Junie!"

The situation was slightly cleared up as the two friends reunited in a cheesy display of hugs and girlish laughs, while Apollo and I just kind of stood there. The Athena girl seemed to be reassured with her friend at her side, and they left the vicinity with Ponco the robot rolling after the girls without them even telling her to.

"Um…do you know her?" Apollo asked dubiously after a moment of awkward silence.

I quirked an eyebrow. "I could ask the same of you. Why were you holding her hand?"

He rolled his eyes. "She was _lost,_ and she's like _five._"

"Whaaaatever you say." It was a joke, of course, but I could never miss out on opportunities to make fun of Apollo. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to mind this time.

"By the way, who was that girl you were with? She seemed in…pain or something." Apollo paused and nodded to himself like he understood something. "You did something, didn't you?"

"What? No!" I said melodramatically, feigning an incredibly wounded look. "I would never!"

"Would you?" Apollo asked flatly.

I sighed. "Seriously, I didn't. It was your loud voice that scared her off, I think."

"I can't help my voice!" Apollo's tone was predictably defensive, and I couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"Poor girl. I bet you scarred her for _life._"

The banter continued, and yet another unpredictably significant event in our lives came to a close. Meeting Athena Cykes and Juniper Woods back then is something we should both probably be really, really thankful for.

&.

**Juniper Woods.**

On February 5th, it happened again.

It was a Wednesday, right after my afternoon lessons. I was a homeschooled child, so I didn't have to worry about waking up early in the morning or getting places on time, as I heard many other children had to.

I was very lucky to have my grandmother as my parent and teacher and close friend – pretty much everything at the time.

My family's history is long, and a bit complicated, so I don't think I should get into it now. The point is, my parents weren't very good parents. They were both constantly on the move on account of business and negotiations for other companies, and never made the time to see me.

They were strict, though, I remember that. They insisted I be homeschooled and learn Agriculture Technology early on so I could follow in their footsteps. But since they weren't around, my grandmother often let me visit Athena at the space center.

Life was perfect at my tender age of six. At the time, I was unaware of what bound me to my fate, so instead I participated in my grandmother's lessons with enthusiasm and spent the rest of the day laughing and playing with my dear friend Athena.

That day, when I walked through the familiar glass doors of the space center, I ran into a face that I had certainly seen before.

"Hey, it's you!" A boy with a visor and jet black hair jutting out every which way pointed at me with a bemused grin.

My eyes widened. "You were the boy scaring Thena!"

He grimaced at that. "I, um… That…didn't…"

He pulled me aside once we were inside the center, explaining the situation as we sat under the mural of the space museum. I understood then; hehad unwittingly triggered Athena's sensitive hearing.

"Uh, so tell her I said sorry, alright?" The boy, whose name I had learned was Clay, rubbed his neck as he chuckled sheepishly. "I didn't know she had sensitive hearing."

I nodded and looked away nervously, not knowing what to do since the discussion was over. I was already very shy and it's not like I would startthe conversation up again, especially with a boy so much older than me.

"Wait a minute," Clay said, realizing something. "I didn't say anything loud. It must have been Apollo who scared her! Hah!" He clapped his hands together in triumph.

Meanwhile, I realized he didn't understand what I meant. Athena was sensitive to feelings especially, more so than loud noise. He had probably frightened her more than Apollo had.

Apollo…frightened me too, though, to be honest. But once I adjusted to his…intense volume, I could see that he meant no harm. He was actually really warm; there was no other way to describe it. When I told him I was lost, he wordlessly took my hand and I felt strangely safe, considering I was being led by a stranger. It was all so surreal…

Oh my God. Was I daydreaming about him?

"Um, Clay," I said quickly. "Is your...friend here, too? The one from last time?" Oh no, I had gone and said it. He was definitely going to think I was weird. That was probably why I didn't have many friends…

"Apollo?" he asked, and I nodded in confirmation. "Oh, yeah, he's heading here to meet me in a few."

"Oh." That's all I could think to say. "Um, that's…cool," I muttered, trying to sound casual. My shifty gaze wasn't helping, that I could be sure of.

Luckily, Clay didn't seem to think anything of it. "I can reintroduce you guys once he gets here," he suggested.

"Really?" It came out before I could hold myself back. What was with me and my strange tendencies today?

"No problem." He grinned in a good-natured way and flashed me a thumbs-up, and I nearly sighed in relief at his oblivion. His expression changed, however, to one of hopefulness. "But, I was hoping you could introduce me to Athena?"

At my perturbed expression, he continued, "I feel kind of bad for last time, thought I could apologize. And you told me she was really shy, right? Maybe I could loosen her up a bit or something."

Loosen up Athena? She wasn't exactly tightly wound, but she was afraid of talking to other people. I wasn't sure what to say. Would Athena be mad at me?

"You should've seen how Apollo was before I met him. Total social outcast," he claimed, nodding to himself with a prideful grin.

I had a funny feeling he was lying about something, but I decided not to question it. "Sure," I said instead.

I led him up a floor to Athena's room, which Dr. Cykes had just recently arranged for her with soundproof walls. I had trouble understanding why she held a certain resentment towards her mother when Dr. Cykes clearly cared about her so much.

"Be quiet when you talk to her," I advised as we stopped in front of the door. "Also, if you see a tall, dark-haired man in there, walk right out."

"Um…thank you for that warning." Clay nodded and entered without another thought, and I cringed, waiting for the inevitable. Athena would probably hate me forever. What was I thinking, letting this older boy talk to her? I barely even knew him!

I crouched outside next to the door, a bundle of nerves. Oh, maybe this was a bad idea. I knew I should've stayed home today. No, now I sounded like that one kid from the show Thena and I used to watch!

"…Per? Juniper?"

I was so concentrated on Athena that I barely heard the voice calling my name, but when I did, I recognized it instantly, elation and anxietyflooding through me simultaneously.

"Oh! Um, hello!" I sprang to my feet and dusted off my dress, reluctantly bringing myself to look at him.

There he was. Apollo Justice, whose presence for some reason affected me greatly despite my not even really _knowing_ him. Here we go…

"You know where Clay is?" he asked in a casual, aloof way, glancing down the hallway as he did so. "I couldn't find him in the museum."

"He's um…in there." I pointed to the door, which was shut, and I really don't know why I didn't explain myself further. It was probably because I felt like I would mess up every other word.

"And…what exactly is he doing?"

"Talking to Thena."

"I see…"

Silence descended over us as I glanced away, not knowing what to say. Luckily, it seemed like the heavens didn't hate me completely as our awkward silence was diffused by the muffled noises of laughter coming through the door.

"Did they just…?" I couldn't believe it. They were both _laughing?_ That couldn't be right. Could it?

The question was answered for me when Apollo opened the door and found them both there, doubled over in fits.

"What's so funny?" Apollo asked, a small grin forming on his face at the sight of an eleven year old boy and a five year old girl howling like there was no tomorrow.

"I can't breathe," Athena wheezed.

Eventually, when their laughter had died down, the two of them tried, to no avail, to explain the source of humor. What I got from all of this was one thing: Clay Terran was a people person. There no other explanation for how easily he had been able to talk to Athena.

I was partly jealous, but mostly impressed.

The rest of the afternoon flew by as the discussion drifted from laughter to the movie showing at the center next week to how Apollo wanted to be a lawyer and how Clay wanted to be an astronaut and I think I said something too, but I don't remember because of what happened that evening at exactly five fifty-three, when Ms. Blackquill came into the room in a hurry and switched on the television.

Everyone froze.

It had already been a year, but I should have known better. It was a living nightmare. It was happening again. It happened _again._

"Juniper, are you okay?"

"Oh, Junie…"

I was vaguely aware of the concerned voices echoing in my head, but nothing else mattered because I could only see the horrors of that television screen, and I knew what it all meant.

February 4th 2014 was the second attack of the kaiju.

&.

**Athena Cykes.**

"You know, I still think it's kind of weird. The solution they came up with for this huge ordeal, I mean."

"Sounds pretty legit to me. Oh my god, it's just like that one movie we saw, Apollo! Monsters versus Robots! I can't believe I'm just now realizing that!"

"Okay, that came out forever ago…"

"My point exactly. Foreshadowing much?"

Apollo shook his head in utter exasperation at the victorious look Clay gave him. Juniper chuckled at them both, quietly working on her scarf next to me.

It had been seven years since the kaiju first attacked. Mankind's response? Let's fight them back with giant mechanical monsters of our own!

I had to hand it to them, though. It made great action figures for kids.

"Look!" I brought out my Black Tyrant figure. It was the most recently defeated kaiju, and therefore one of the hardest to acquire. "I got the Black Tyrant!"

"No way!" Clay immediately crossed the table, probably nearly breaking it – **  
><strong>

"Clay, don't ruin my table! This is my _room,_ you know!"

And yet somehow he ended up sitting on his knees next to me, eyes sparkling as he held a beckoning hand out towards my very rare, limited edition action figure.

"I don't know why you guys obsess over those." Juniper sighed. The movement of her fingers stopped as she gave us a disapproving look. "This is war. It's nothing to be playing games over."

"You're just saying that 'cause it freaked you out when you were five," I retorted, sticking out my tongue. She actually rolled her eyes and proceeded to ignore me.

"Apollo, your personality is rubbing off on Junie. Make it stop," I commanded, wielding the Black Tyrant at him.

Apollo had been slumped against my couch, flipping through channels on the television when he simply waved me off. "She's only realizing the truth: You two are hopeless and _ridiculous_."

"Psh, don't listen to him, Athena," Clay said dismissively. "He doesn't understand."

"Obviously!"

At Clay's persistent puppy eyes, I sighed and threw the action figure at him. He caught it and proceeded to laugh manically at my prized possession.

"I can't believe you're sixteen sometimes," I muttered. When my voice went unheard, another sigh escaped me as I realized I was now stuck with Apollo watching whatever boring thing he liked. Just lovely.

As I made my way over and sat next to him, I realized the current thing was reruns of Doctor Who. How was that show still not over?

Exhaling deeply, I took another look around the room. Juniper occasionally glanced at the TV as she knit. Clay geeked over my action figure, and Apollo was half-asleep beside me.

I had actually come a long way, now that I think about it. Several years back, I wasn't exactly shy, but I wasn't really social, either. I hated talking to people, mostly because I feared that their emotions would overwhelm my senses. They usually didn't, but my ever-present fear didn't do anything to help.

Junie was my first friend. Our friendship had started effortlessly because I liked the sound of her heart. It was quiet and warm. It gave my mother hope, I think, because she tried to introduce me to her colleagues' children. It didn't go very well. I think I ran out screaming.

In my defense, they had _very_ loud hearts. I don't know what kind of troubled thoughts were running through their minds, but it was enough to scare away poor, five-year-old me.

I remember meeting Clay, too. He was really…interesting. I remember being utterly terrified at first, mostly blocking out everything he said in favor of staying sane, but even then he somehow thawed the barricade I builtand... made me laugh. So genuinely that I could feel the knot in my heart dissolve relief flood through me. I forget what it was we were actually laughing about, but whatever it was had finally eased my fear of meeting new people.

I was still homeschooled at that point, though. Mother insisted. I also wore those headphones. I never understood why, but I never questioned it. I never really wanted to know if she was really using me as an experiment. Her confirmation might just be worse.

"Apollo, change the channel already." Determined to not fall into my darker thoughts of my mother, I distracted myself by attempting to snatch the remote from Apollo.

"Depends," he said, holding the object out of my reach. "Will your scary knight in shining armor try to kill me again if I accidentally switch it to something violent?"

He's talking about Simon, of course. "He's not scary," I insisted as I snatched away the remote. "He's just…protective of me."

"He likes me," said Clay. He nudged Apollo with his foot, sprawled out on the floor playing his 4DS.**  
><strong>

"He does not." Apollo nudged back, a frown twitching at his lip.

"Sure he does! I'm gonna work here someday, after all! Dammit, my Togekiss fainted."

"If you've forgotten," Apollo interjected, "he's a lawyer. That should make him like _me_ more."

"And yet he doesn't!"

"That's enough, girls," I cut in. But something in that conversation had caught my ear. "So Clay, you really want to be an astronaut?"

"Heck yeah!" Clay nodded, actually closing his gaming console to face me. "It's my dream!"

That would mean Clay would work here, and I could still get to see him. I…I liked the idea of that. But I didn't want to say it out loud and sound weird. "I always thought you would end up piloting a Jaegar," I joked instead.

Clay shook his head like it was a ridiculous idea, but tempered it with a hearty laugh. "That would be my second dream job, I guess. Think about how cool it would be inside a Jaegar! Me against the kaiju. I can definitely see it."

"So it's a possibility, then?" I asked with a lopsided grin.

"Basically." Clay nodded. He sat up to pat Apollo's shoulder. "And you'd totally be my copilot, right, Apollo?"

"Ha," Apollo muttered as he shrugged the hand off. "There is no way I'm getting in a robot with you. We'd both get killed."

"It would be the adventure of a lifetime!" Clay insisted. He was beginning to take this more and more seriously.

"I am studying law and that's final," Apollo concluded, ungluing his eyes from the TV to give Clay a look.

Clay gave him a playful shove. "You're just saying that because of your new crush."

"Crush?" I repeated suspiciously. Juniper echoed me by accident and, realizing her mistake, quickly pretended to be only barely eavesdropping onour conversation.

"It's nothing of the sort," Apollo assured us, glaring at Clay.

He only shook his head. "You should see this guy when he's watching his favorite lawyer's trials! He's like a blushing fanboy!"

"Who is she?" Juniper questioned in that innocent, quiet way of hers.

"You mean, who is _he._ Phoenix Wright. Heard of him? I only know because this guy watches every single one of his trials." Clay jutted a thumb in Apollo's direction.

I could sense a wave of relief from Juniper and wondered why. (Kidding. I totally knew why. My sensitive hearing payed off _sometimes._)

"I've heard of him," I said, going on uncertainly: "But wasn't there some kind of…scandal?"

Apollo visibly stiffened. "He didn't do it."

A tense silence followed as we all glanced uncertainly at each other. Clay was the first to break it, as usual. "I believe it too. Phoenix Wright can't just win seven cases in a row with his heart and soul and do something as stupid as forging evidence!" Clay smiled at Apollo, who smiled back.

Clay might have teased him a lot, but he sure knew exactly how to make him feel better. I kind of envied their friendship.

Of course, that didn't mean Clay could resist ruining the moment. "He's enough to get Apollo here to go gay for him," he teased. He was promptly punched in the arm. Guess who.

"Not gay, and Mr. Wright is my idol."

This ever so witty banter would probably have persisted longer, but the boys both had to leave for an event at 11:30 a.m., and Juniper conveniently left at the same time for a dentist appointment. This left me alone again.

I hated being alone with my thoughts. That would not do.

I decided to go find Aura. She didn't like me very much, I don't think (I hadn't a clue why, either), but maybe she could tell me where Simon was.

I opened the door to the Robotics Lab and found the woman's purple horns peeking out from underneath a machine. I heard the clinks of metalwork, and was careful to warn her of my presence.

"Um, Aura?"

She erupted with a sigh as she rolled back from underneath the machine. "Just when I thought I was gonna get some work done," she muttered. "What do you want, Princess?"

As usual, I was intimidated by her gravelly tone. I found myself stuttering, "D-Do you know where…Simon is?"

No one else would have noticed it, but I felt…_anger_ emanating from her.

"I wouldn't know." She reached over to a drawer to pick out a box of crayons. She threw them to me, and I nearly slipped on an oil spill to catch them.

"Use this to entertain yourself in the meanwhile. I've got work to do."

I knew I wouldn't get any more words out of Aura for the rest of the day, so I let her be. Obediently trotting back to my room, I spent the next few hours drawing with those crayons.

It ended up being a really bad picture. I wasn't an artist, so I could cross that off my "future jobs" list. But I was…oddly proud of it. It was a simple drawing of just me and my mom, holding hands. It was a typical thing you'd expect to see done with crayons: grass and a tree with an owl hole in the background.

In retrospect, it had a lot of heart, and I supposed that's what really made it worth showing in the end.

I don't know what possessed me, at one thirty in the afternoon, to go show my mother that childish drawing, but to this day I can only regret my decision. It was the wrong time… It never should've happened, I should have just…stayed.

I opened the room to the robotics room, and what I saw that day would stay with me for the rest of my life.

It was my mother, covered in blood.

She was splayed across the floor with a weapon sticking out of her chest. As cruel as it seemed, I couldn't see her face; it was covered, as if daringme to check and see who it really was.

I expected myself to go insane any second. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't real. I needed anything to jolt me out of this…this nightmare! I feltmyself start to shake, and I grasped my headphones and held them tighter.

Then I heard a sound.

Even shaking badly as I was, I forced myself to look up, and I saw him.

He wore a mask, one that I would push out of my memory for many long years to come. There were a million things running through my mind at that moment, and my own emotional trauma wasn't doing much to help. I saw the knife. I picked it up. I was rushing over to him in that next moment with a weapon in my fist and I felt something sink through.

Warm blood flooded in between my fingers.

I was probably terrified, screaming inside of my head, crying, but whatever it was, I was blocking it out. There was a fog hiding the tornado of emotion, and I was glad for it. I had to fix my mother. It wasn't enough to punish this man. She had to be okay!

He ran, but I didn't care.

"Ponco, get her on the table!" The hysteria was beginning to break through my emotionless voice, and I grew restless in the time it took Ponco to complete the action.

She had to hurry, or these emotions I was holding back would break through and I would lose the little resolve I had left. I had to fix her, she had to be okay, she had to tell me that my headphones were covering my ears because she _loved_ me and nothing else!

I activated the machine. Blood splattered everywhere, but I swallowed back my nausea and told myself it was okay. The robots leaked oil all the time; this was just the same! It was the same exact thing.

Oh, no; I felt it breaking. The blood was dripping down my face now, mixing with my tears so I couldn't tell which was which and the voices and emotions in my head were growing louder and louder when I realized that maybe, just maybe _this wasn't working_ –

"Athena – what are you doing?"

Time was at a standstill. I heard my heartbeat echoing in my ears as I turned around to the voice. Simon stood there with a face I barely recognized, his eyes crazed and his face so pale. He was clutching his heart and heaving ragged breaths.

I felt like smiling. So I did.

"Something's wrong with Mommy, so I'm trying to fix her!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Wow so action/horror is so totally not my thing. I was on the struggle bus during that last scene, there. I apologize if I burned your eyes from sheer bad writing, my dear readers. This is hopefully presentable though, since I got a very kind and lovely person to beta it thoroughly.**

**But, anyways! You needn't know much about the Pacific Rim universe to enjoy this. Pacific Rim in a nutshell: Huge monsters called Kaiju invade and Earth and kill people. To fight back, mankind builds giant robots called Jaegers which need to be piloted from the inside by two humans. Their brains are linked via this mechanism called The Drift, so they can feel each other's thoughts and memories and move as one in the robot.**

**But pilots are only one part of the Jaeger programme. There's a whole bunch of staff dedicated to all of the other components involved: trainers and managers and instructors, etc. **

**It's a good movie! The timeline matches up near perfectly with the Ace Attorney universe, too, so I figured why not? **

**The story has only just begun. ;) (It probably won't be very long... there's not much to tell, only the way to tell it.) Expect more Kaiju action next chapter! Or maybe. I really want to focus on these four's relationships as the war advances. I enjoy their dynamics.**

**I enjoy their backstories as well. I had to get a little creative with Juniper. Since she tends to hold herself back, I'd like her to take an important part in the narrative somehow. **

**Ahhh, I've rambled. Please review if you're going to favorite and tell me your thoughts! It would make my day.**


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